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[1]Keep silent towards Me, O isles, And the peoples pass on [to] power, They come nigh, then they speak, `Together -- to judgment we draw near.'
[2]Who stirred up from the east a righteous one? He calleth him to His foot, He giveth before him nations, And kings He causeth him to rule, He giveth [them] as dust [to] his sword, As driven stubble [to] his bow.
[3]He pursueth them, he passeth over in safety A path with his feet he entereth not.
[4]Who hath wrought and done, Calling the generations from the first? I, Jehovah, the first, and with the last I [am] He.
[5]Seen have isles and fear, ends of the earth tremble, They have drawn near, yea, they come.
[6]Each his neighbour they help, And to his brother he saith, `Be strong.'
[7]And strengthen doth an artizan the refiner, A smoother [with] a hammer, Him who is beating [on] an anvil, Saying, `For joining it [is] good,' And he strengtheneth it with nails, it is not moved!
[8]-- And thou, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, Seed of Abraham, My lover,
[9]Whom I have taken hold of, from the ends of the earth, And from its near places I have called thee, And I say to thee, My servant Thou [art], I have chosen thee, and not rejected thee.
[10]Be not afraid, for with thee I [am], Look not around, for I [am] thy God, I have strengthened thee, Yea, I have helped thee, yea, I upheld thee, With the right hand of My righteousness.
[11]Lo, all those displeased with thee, They are ashamed and blush, They are as nothing, yea, perish Do the men who strive with thee.
[12]Thou seekest them, and findest them not, The men who debate with thee, They are as nothing, yea, as nothing, The men who war with thee.
[13]For I, Jehovah thy God, Am strengthening thy right hand, He who is saying to thee, `Fear not, I have helped thee.'
[14]Fear not, O worm Jacob, ye men of Israel, I helped thee, an affirmation of Jehovah, Even thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
[15]Lo, I have set thee for a new sharp threshing instrument, Possessing teeth, thou threshest mountains, And beatest small, and hills as chaff thou makest.
[16]Thou winnowest them, and a wind lifteth them up, And a whirlwind scattereth them, And thou -- thou rejoicest in Jehovah, In the Holy One of Israel dost boast thyself.
[17]The poor and the needy are seeking water, And there is none, Their tongue with thirst hath failed, I, Jehovah do answer them, The God of Israel -- I forsake them not.
[18]I open on high places rivers, And in midst of valleys fountains, I make a wilderness become a pond of water, And a dry land become springs of water.
[19]I give in a wilderness the cedar, Shittah, and myrtle, and oil-tree, I set in a desert the fir-pine and box-wood together.
[20]So that they see, and know, And regard, and act wisely together, For the hand of Jehovah hath done this, And the Holy One of Israel hath prepared it.
[21]Bring near your cause, saith Jehovah, Bring nigh your mighty ones, saith the king of Jacob.
[22]They bring nigh, and declare to us that which doth happen, The first things -- what they [are] declare ye, And we set our heart, and know their latter end, Or the coming things cause us to hear.
[23]Declare the things that are coming hereafter, And we know that ye [are] gods, Yea, ye may do good or do evil, And we look around and see [it] together.
[24]Lo, ye [are] of nothing, and your work of nought, An abomination -- it fixeth on you.
[25]I have stirred up [one] from the north, And he cometh, From the rising of the sun he calleth in My name, And he cometh in [on] prefects as [on] clay, And as a potter treadeth down mire.
[26]Who hath declared from the first, and we know? And beforetime, and we say, `Righteous?' yea, there is none declaring, Yea, there is none proclaiming, Yea, there is none hearing your sayings.
[27]First to Zion, Behold, behold them, And to Jerusalem one proclaiming tidings I give,
[28]And I see that there is no man, Yea, of these that there is no counsellor, And I ask them, and they return word:
[29]`Lo, all of them [are] vanity, Nought [are] their works, Wind and emptiness their molten images!'
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